Sam Witwer
|birth_place = Glenview, Illinois, U.S. |occupation = Actor, musician, voice actor |yearsactive = 2001–present |education = Juilliard School }} Samuel Stewart Witwer (born October 20, 1977) is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying Crashdown in Battlestar Galactica, Davis Bloome in Smallville and Aidan Waite in Being Human. He voiced the protagonist Galen Marek / Starkiller in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the Son and Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars Rebels. Early life Witwer was born born October 20, 1977, and grew up in Glenview, Illinois, a small suburb outside of Chicago. He attended Glenbrook South High School, during which time he was involved in drama and theater classes, as well as being the lead singer of a high school band called "Love Plumber". He attended the Juilliard School for a time before moving to Los Angeles. Career Witwer's first on-screen credit was that of a Chicago Bulls commercial. He soon found himself in speaking roles on hit television series, such as ER. Witwer's first major recurring role came in the form of portraying Lt. Crashdown on Battlestar Galactica, although he has credited much of his current success to his role as Neil Perry on the Showtime series Dexter. Witwer also appeared as Private Wayne Jessup in the movie The Mist. From 2008 to 2009, Witwer was cast in Season 8 of Smallville as Davis Bloome, a charming paramedic who struggles with a darkness within as he is the human camouflage of Doomsday, a character in the comics best known for being the only villain to have "killed" Superman. While Witwer played Davis, Doomsday was played by stuntman Dario Delacio. Witwer's performance in Smallville was incredibly well-received, and he has stated that his experience on the show had opened more opportunities for him in the future of acting. Witwer made a cameo appearance in The Walking Dead as a dead (zombie) soldier in a tank in the Season 1 episode "Days Gone Bye" which reunited him with director Frank Darabont from The Mist. Witwer also made a guest appearance in NCIS. From 2011 to 2014, Witwer starred in the North American remake of Being Human. He played the lead role of vampire Aidan Waite. The show, as well as his performance, was well received and lasted 4 seasons. He voiced Ocean Master in the animated film Justice League: Throne of Atlantis for the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, replacing fellow Star Wars actor Steve Blum from Justice League: War. In 2016 Witwer played Edward Hyde on Once Upon a Time, recurring for part of its sixth season after debuting at the end of the fifth. In 2018, Witwer joined the main cast of The CW drama series Supergirl, portraying the fourth season's main antagonist, Ben Lockwood / Agent Liberty. Roleplaying games Sam is an avid player of both electronic games and pen-and-paper roleplaying games. This is a hobby that he has engaged in for years. He has been a frequent guest on the Podcast Order 66 and has expressed a love for all iterations of Star Wars roleplaying games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (by West End Games) to Star Wars Roleplaying Game (by Wizards of the Coast) and to the series of [[Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Fantasy Flight Games)|cross-compatible Star Wars roleplaying games]] by Fantasy Flight Games. Sam appeared in episode 19 of Geek and Sundry's Tabletop playing the Dragon Age roleplaying game, and episodes 29 and 55 of Dice Camera Action. In January 2017, he appeared as a guest on a play-through of ScratchPad Publishing's Dusk City Outlaws, alongside Elisa Teague, Tom Lommel, Spencer Crittendon, and game designer Rodney Thompson. ''Star Wars'' career A lifelong Star Wars fan, Witwer provided both his voice and likeness for lead character Galen Marek/Starkiller (Darth Vader's secret apprentice) in the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and 2010 sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. He has since received much praise for his contribution to the role. He also voiced Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) in the first game, and reprised it for the games Disney Infinity 3.0 and Battlefront and for season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, where he also plays Darth Maul. For Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Witwer had also vocally performed the Son in a three episode story arc (known as the Mortis trilogy) in Season 3 as well as the iconic Sith Lord Darth Maul in the Season 4 finale episodes and in four episodes of Season 5. He also lent his voice for Darth Maul in other projects such as the Star Wars: Episode I Brisk commercial as well as the Cartoon Network special Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out, and again for Star Wars Rebels. Sam attended The Clone Wars Season 5 Red Carpet Premier in Orlando, Florida on August 24, 2012 during Celebration VI along with some of his co-stars Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker, Tom Kane, Daniel Logan, Stephen Stanton and Ashley Eckstein, as well as Supervising Director Dave Filoni. During Celebration VI, he also had his own panel called Sam Witwer "The Maul Within" on August 26, 2012. In 2013, he attended for the first time the annual event, Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida for a three-day weekend and fans praised him for his roles in The Force Unleashed games and on The Clone Wars. During the live show "Behind the Force", Sam showed his acting skills by saying one or two lines of the characters that he's played in the Star Wars universe. Sam also guest voiced an alien as well as a stormtrooper during the siege of Maz Kanata's palace in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In 2018, Witwer reprised his portrayal as Darth Maul and performed the voice acting role for the character in Solo: A Star Wars Story. This marks the sixth vehicle for which Witwer voices Darth Maul, and the first live-action performance. Music career Witwer serves as the front-man for the band The Crashtones, whose first studio album Colorful of the Stereo was released February 15, 2006. Filmography Film Television Video games References External links * * * Category:1977 births Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:American male voice actors Category:American male video game actors Category:Living people Category:Male actors from Illinois Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:People from Glenview, Illinois Category:Science fiction fans